Mugford
Capt. John
Mugford commanded schooner Franklin in
the Continental Navy, serving through 1775 in Manley’s squadron off Boston. He captured
British ship Hope with a large cargo of military stores and powder, and
took his prize into Boston,
running under the noses of the British fleet lying in the outer harbor. Franklin was
attacked at night, however, and Capt. Mugford was killed in the ensuing action.
II
(DD-389: displacement 1,500 tons; length 341 feet 8 inches;
beam 34 feet 8 inches; draft 9 feet 10 inches; speed 36.5 knots; complement
200; armament 4 5-inch, 4 .50-caliber, 16 21-inch torpedo tubes; class Gridley)
The second
Mugford (DD-389) was laid down on 28 October 1935 by the Boston Navy
Yard; launched on 31 October 1936; sponsored by Miss Madeline Orne,
great-great-grand-niece of Capt. Mugford; and commissioned on 16 August 1937,
in command.
Joining
the Pacific Fleet in late 1937, Mugford conducted local operations along
the West Coast and around the Hawaiian Islands,
taking time out for periodic overhauls and upkeep. Growing tensions in the Far
East led to her shift to Pearl Harbor and she
operated with the Pacific Fleet there. In late 1940 all four of her gun
crews won the warship the coveted “E” for a perfect score during short range
battle practice. During this period the destroyer also received an
upgrade to her anti-aircraft guns, having one twin 40mm gun mount, six 20mm gun
mounts and associated directors installed.
On 7
December 1941, when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began, Mugford lay
moored between the gunboat Sacramento (PG-19) and Mugford's
sister ship Jarvis (DD-393), at berth B-6, Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, and
while raising steam to get underway, she claimed three planes shot down in 10
minutes with her .50-caliber machine guns. Following patrol duties off Hawaii in early December, the destroyer then joined Task
Force (TF) 14, built around Saratoga (CV-3), for operations that included the
abortive Wake Island relief expedition.
Shifting to TF 11 on 19 January 1942, Mugford screened Lexington (CV-2) during
patrol operations until returning to Pearl Harbor
on 5 February. The destroyer departed Hawaii
that same day, escorting troop ships south to Brisbane, arriving in that Australian port on
the 25th. After escorting a convoy to Noumea,
New Caledonia, on 13 March, Mugford operated
as convoy escort and patrol ship in the Tutuila, Tonga,
Bora Bora area through May. Shifting to Australia in early June, Mugford escorted
various troop convoys along the Australian coast before sailing for Wellington, New Zealand,
on 19 July to prepare for Operation Watchtower, the Allied invasion of Guadalcanal.
Sailing
north as part of TF 62, Mugford took up a patrol station off Lunga Point on 7
August 1942 to cover the transports unloading troops on Guadalcanal.
Later that morning, a twenty-five plane Japanese air strike swept towards the
American warships. At 1320 that afternoon lookouts spotted a number of
twin-engine bombers to the northeast. Three planes fell burning into the
water, victims of American anti-aircraft gunnery, before the rest of the wave
passed high overhead. At 1457, lookouts sighted six Aichi D3A1 Type 99
“Val” carrier bombers approaching from the north. The destroyer increased
speed to 30 knots and began firing all guns as four bombers from the Japanese
2d Kokutai closed to attack Mugford. In rapid succession,
the first bomb struck the water 25 yards abreast the starboard propeller, the
second landed 50 yards abreast the number four torpedo tube, the third hit the
destroyer just forward the number 3 five-inch gun mount and the fourth missed
starboard about 200 yards off the bridge. Two of the four bombers
splashed a few hundred yards to starboard after releasing their bombs.
The bomb hit instantly killed four sailors, mortally wounded three others and
blew ten men overboard, four of whom were rescued by Ralph Talbot
(DD-390). Seventeen wounded were later transferred to McCawley
(AP-10) for medical care while another seventeen sailors were treated by
Mugford’s medical team. Of the four gun positions knocked out by the
blast, three were put back in operation by 1700 that afternoon. The next
day Mugford opened fire on enemy planes during a heavy raid on the
anchorage just after noon, mainly firing her five-inch guns at retiring enemy
bombers, claiming one. At 1252 she was ordered to investigate smoke to
the west and, at 1320, picked up two Japanese air crew from a splashed
Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 “Betty” land attack bomber whom she later delivered to Barnett
(AP-11). Interestingly, one of the wounded Japanese, Tamaki Amano, who
survived the war in captivity in Australia, later contacted Capt.
Andrew F. Johnston, who had been gunnery officer on Mugford during the
war, to thank the ships’ officers and crew for their mercy.
On 9
August 1942, Mugford steamed toward the action of the first Battle of
Savo Island, arriving at dawn and commenced rescuing men from the water at
0613. Although interrupted by a submarine contact, the destroyer
continued pulling men from the water until 0905 when, with 375 survivors
onboard, she steamed for the transport area. Before arriving off Guadalcanal, fifteen of the wounded died and were buried
at sea with a brief ceremony. At 1300, Mugford moored alongside Barnett
and transferred all the survivors, including Capt. Frederick L. Riefkohl,
Commanding Officer of Vincennes
(CA-44). After
retiring to Noumea on 14 August 1942, Mugford
sailed south to Australia,
arriving in Sydney
on the 27th. Entering Australian Navy drydock Cockatoo,
the destroyer received a week of bomb damage repairs before proceeding to Brisbane.
Attached
to Task Force (TF) 44, Mugford spent the next three months patrolling
the Coral Sea with a cruiser-destroyer force built around Australia, Hobart
and Phoenix.
Starting in January 1943, Mugford also began escorting cargo ships and
transports from Brisbane, Palm
Island and Dunk
Island to Port Moresby, New Guinea.
In between convoy operations the destroyer continued surface combat exercises
with elements of TF 44. On 15 May, four hours after departing Brisbane as escort for SS
Sussex, Mugford spotted an object on the horizon to the
east. Shortly thereafter a patrol plane flew near, signaling “Rescue
survivors in water ahead.” Upon closing the first group of rafts,
survivors told the crew their ship, Australian Hospital Ship Centaur,
had been torpedoed and sunk the day before. Immediately setting to rescue
efforts, Mugford’s crew picked up 64 survivors – including one nurse –
from a two mile radius of oil slicks, wreckage and debris. The survivors
were given first aid by the destroyers’ medical staff, ably led by Lt. Bruce R.
McCambell, then clothed, sparingly fed and put to bed. The ships’ company
also donated over $1,200 for the survivor’s immediate needs, beside donations
of clothing, cigarettes, etc. The survivors were transferred to
Australian Army authorities at Newstead that evening.
After an
escort mission to Noumea and Fiji in May 1943, Mugford returned to Brisbane in June for operations off New Guinea.
On 22 June, Mugford embarked Commander, Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific
Area, Vice Admiral Andrew F. Carpender, for transport from Palm Islands
to Townsville. Four days later, the destroyer joined Task Unit (TU)
76.2.1, comprising herself and Helm (DD-388) to escort a column of LSTs
to Woodlark Island, where troops and equipment
landed on 1 July. She escorted several more echelon columns of LSTs to
Woodlark through the rest of July before shifting to Milne Bay, New Guinea,
on 7 August. The destroyer then carried out shore bombardment missions
and patrolled off Milne
Bay through August.
On 2 September she joined an escort force at Buna to shepherd LSTs northwest
for the invasion of Lae two days later. The formation was attacked
by several “Val” carrier dive bombers but suffered no damage. Returning
to Buna to escort a second echelon of LSTs, the group was attacked again, this
time by eight “Betty” land attack bombers, which bracketed Mugford,
drenched her with water and peppered the warship with small shrapnel
holes. Following a third convoy to Lae, the destroyer escorted LSTs
carrying elements of the Australian 9th division to Finschaven and
bombarded the target area on 22 September in preparation for the troop
landings. That evening Mugford had a short night engagement with
Japanese landing barges off the port, in which two were sunk by other
destroyers.
Retiring to
Milne Bay
and then Townsville in late September 1943, Mugford escorted Dobbin
(AD-3) to Milne Bay before mooring alongside the
destroyer tender for the installation of a new surface gunnery radar. On
6 October, Mugford sailed to Buna to recommence escort work, this time
mainly between Lae and Finschaven. On the morning of 20 October, while in
company with four other destroyers off Finschaven, multiple waves of dozens of
enemy aircraft attacked the warships between 0220 and 0530. Maneuvering
at 25 knots in the early morning darkness, the destroyers avoided direct hits
from dozens of bombs though Perkins (DD-377) suffered casualties from
shrapnel. Returning to Buna on the 27th, Mugford went south to
Milne Bay for another availability on 9
November. The destroyer then conducted more escort operations Woodlark Island,
Milne Bay,
Buna, Lae and Finschaven until early December, when she escorted LSTs for the
invasion of Arawe, New Britain,
on 14 December. Returning to Buna, the destroyer then escorted troops for
the landings at Cape
Gloucester, finding
herself patrolling off the reef line on Christmas Day. At 1430 that
afternoon, a number of “Val” carrier dive bombers appeared over the beach and
dove to attack, Mugford receiving three near misses, one to port and two
to starboard. A near miss starboard killed one sailor and wounded six
others, mostly from the 20mm gun positions amidships. The hull and
superstructure were also riddled with 108 shrapnel holes; according to one
witness, after the engineers plugged them with wooden dowels to prevent splash
flooding the side of the ship “looked like a pin cushion.” While steaming
east later on Christmas Day, the formation was attacked again by eight enemy
bombers, all of which were shot down by friendly fighter aircraft or ship
anti-aircraft fire. When the attack was over, the ships’ crew could see
nine funeral pyre’s burning on the surface of the sea within a radius of 12,000
yards, a sobering site on that holiday.
After
receiving battle damage repairs alongside Dobbin at Milne
Bay in early January 1944, Mugford
returned to New Guinea
for a week of shore bombardment missions off Saidor and Gali. Following
those strikes, and 10 days of leave and recreation at Sydney
mid-month, the warship conducted patrol and escort duties in Huon
Gulf into February. Then, in company with Helm, the
warship sailed to Tulagi, Solomon Islands, to escort three
merchant ships east towards home. Mugford arrived at Pearl Harbor
on 24 February and then proceeded on to California,
arriving at Mare Island on 5 March. Following an
eight week refit, the warship quickly underwent refresher training exercises in
preparation for the invasion of the Marianas
Islands, for which she staged to Pearl
Harbor and then Majuro, Marshall Islands, in early
June. Underway 6 June, Mugford sreened the fast carriers during
the initial landings, observing the first strike the morning of 11 June, then
guarded battleships bombarding Saipan and Tinian, firing night harassing
missions herself and covering night retirements by the heavier warships.
On the 17th she rejoined the carrier screen as word came of
the approach of an enemy carrier force, and helped cover Iowa
(BB-61) and New Jersey (BB-62) during
the Battle of the Philippine
Sea. Returning to the Marianas on
the 21st, Mugford spent the next two weeks conducting
anti-submarine patrols, fire support missions, night illumination firing and
radar picket duties. On 8 July the destroyers’ crew attempted to capture
two Japanese soldiers on a raft near Tanapag Harbor but, as put by the war
diary, “both soldiers resisted capture however, and to eliminate any
possibility of treacherous action, they were dispatched by submachine gun fire”
from Mugford’s whaleboat. She continued patrol and escort missions
in the Marianas and Marshalls as preparations
were made to invade Guam, during which action Mugford served as radar
picket between Guam and Rota.
On 28
August 1944, Mugford sortied from Eniwetok with TF 38 for surface
bombardment and airstrikes on enemy shipping and installations in the Bonin
Islands and at Yap in the Carolines.
While the destroyer screened carriers during the first action, she participated
in the bombardment of Yap on 7 September, firing 132 5-inch rounds in and
around Yap town. She operated with other
destroyers of DesDiv 12 in the Carolines through the end of the month, taking
time out mid-month for a replenishment stop in Seeadler
Harbor, Manus, Admiralty
Islands. On 3 October the weather began to make up, and
although Mugford began typhoon evasion maneuvers, she rolled heavily in
the pounding storm, losing her anchor, suffering bent forecastle stanchions aft
and having the No. 1 gun shield stove in. After rendezvous on the 7th,
the warships sailed north for strikes against Okinawa and Formosa.
During these air operations, Mugford remained almost constantly at
general quarters, with Japanese planes launching small, intermittent strikes
day and night. Although numerous, the attacks were uncoordinated and
friendly Combat Air Patrol (CAP) kept almost all enemy planes away from the
ships and aircraft carriers of the task force. On 24 and 25 October, Mugford
screened carriers and battleships in TG 38.2 and 38.3 during the Battle for Leyte Gulf,
with the destroyer rescuing a pilot the morning of the 25th after
his crippled fighter ditched at sea. After refueling with TG 38.4 on the
26th, Mugford screened carriers during strike operations
against Japanese troops on Leyte for the next
four days. About noon
on 30 October, the crew witnessed kamikaze planes crash Franklin
(CV-13) and Belleau Wood (CV-24), after which the destroyer tried to go
alongside Belleau Wood to put water on
the stricken carriers’ flight deck but heavy winds and rough seas moved her
off. She retired with the damaged carrier to Ulithi on 2 November, having
been continuously underway in combat conditions for thirty-nine days.
Mugford remained at Ulithi for
twelve days, receiving sonar and bilge keel repairs as well as cleaning
ship. She returned to Leyte Gulf on 16 November 1944 and took up a picket
patrol station in Surigao
Strait. Although
the crew occasionally spotted enemy snoopers, no Japanese planes attacked the
lone destroyer. On 25 November the destroyer rescued Able Seaman James
Hunt, an Australian sailor who’d fallen overboard from HMAS Warramunga.
On 5 December, while covering a convoy passing her station, a group of eight
Japanese kamikaze planes attacked the slow amphibious craft. Mugford
fired unsuccessfully at the bombers, three of which crashed and damaged LST-23,
LSM-20 and Drayton (DD-366). Later that afternoon, as Mugford
escorted the damaged ships to San
Pedro Bay,
four more carrier torpedo bombers closed to attack. One dropped a bomb
wide on the starboard side, passed over the ship and was lost to sight over
land. Shortly thereafter the “Val” returned in a weaving low-level
run. With suicidal bravery, the Japanese pilot avoiding some 60 rounds of
5-inch fire and dove his bomber straight into Mugford’s port uptakes,
wiping out a 20mm gun mount, gutting No. 1 fireroom and the machine shop and
knocking out all power. Taken under tow by LST-34, damage control
teams put out the fires, tended to the injured and restored power three hours
later. Casualties were heavy; eight men killed, including one under-age
boy found suffocated in the fireroom, and fourteen wounded.
Owing to
the severe damage, Mugford anchored in San Pedro Bay for minor
repairs and then proceeded east to the United
States for major yard work, arriving at the Mare Island
Navy Yard via Manus and Pearl Harbor on 5
January 1945. Following yard repairs the destroyer proceeded to San Diego for refresher training on 4 March, before
proceeding to Hawaii, arriving in Pearl Harbor on the 19th. She remained there for
five weeks, screening carriers during workups and conducting numerous gunnery
exercises. Mugford, in company with Monterey
(CVL-26) and MacDonough (DD-351), finally got underway for Ulithi on
26 April, arriving there via Eniwetok on 8
May. The destroyer reported for duty with the local commander as a radar
picket ship and anti-submarine patrol ship that same day. Following a
month of uneventful duty, Mugford got underway for Saipan
on 18 June, where she relieved Doneff (DE-49) on anti-submarine barrier
patrol. Persistent trouble with her sonar gear interrupted this mission
and eventually, on 13 July, the destroyer began escort duty, shepherding
merchant ships between Ulithi, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Following two cargo runs in July, Mugford joined an Okinawa-bound convoy
at Ulithi on 8 August. After arriving four days later, Mugford
anchored in Buckner
Bay to wait the formation
of a return convoy. While there, the crew witnessed the Japanese air
attack on the anchorage that torpedoed and damaged battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38).
Underway the following morning as part of a return convoy, Mugford was at sea
when word of the Japanese surrender reached the ship by radio.
Mugford continued escorting convoys in the western Pacific
through August. She joined TG 55.7 on 4 September 1945, embarked Army
recovery teams, and then sailed from Okinawa to Nagasaki, Japan,
to help repatriate Allied prisoners of war. The Army teams debarked on 11
September and quickly moved inland to organize the transfer of Allied personnel
from camps around Fukuoka.
The destroyer remained at anchor off Nagasaki
until 18 September, before escorting Cape Gloucester (CVE-109) to Okinawa. Returning to Sasebo,
Japan, on 24 September, Mugford
continued operations in Japanese waters for another month before turning for
home, arriving in San Diego via Pearl Harbor on 19 November.
Tapped for participation in future
“experimental tests,” was stripped of gear and placed in an inactive
status. Towed to Bikini Atoll in May 1946, Mugford was anchored in
the lagoon as a target ship for Operation crossroads, a two-detonation
atmospheric nuclear test series that took place on 1 and 25 July 1946.
While not severely damaged by either test, Mugford was selected for long-term
study in connection with radiological decontamination procedures. The
destroyer decommissioned on 29 August 1946 and was later retained at Kwajalein
Atoll for experiments until finally scuttled at sea on 25 March 1948.
Mugford received seven battle stars for World War II
service.
15 July 2008
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